The Condition of the Salaf During Ramadan

Allah declared that He is pleased with the Companions, and His Messenger (Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam) testified to their superiority and virtue. Thus, it is of the utmost importance to learn of their creed, conduct, and worship. This includes their acts of worship during the month of Ramadan.

How did they prepare for the month? How did they spend their days and nights? How did they remain steadfast afterwards?

Concerning this, al-ʿAllāmah Salih b. Fawzān al-Fawzān said, “They prayed at night, fasted during the day, recited Qur’an, remembered Allah, and [performed] righteous acts. They would not spend a minute or a moment [of this time] without putting forward good deeds.” Further, al-ʿAllāmah Rabi’ b. Hādī al-Madkhalī stated, “The Salaf held special concern for this tremendous month, engaging in the recitation of the Qur’an, increasing in the remembrance of Allah, and abstaining from wrongdoing, as fasting necessitates this.”

The treatise, The Condition of the Salaf During Ramadan, comprises several reminders from scholars such as al-Imam ‘Abd al-Aziz b. Baz, al-Imam Muhammad b. Salih al-ʿUthaymīn, al-Imam Ahmad b. Yahya al-Najmī, al-ʿAllāmah Rabi’ b. Hādī al-Madkhalī, and al-ʿAllāmah Salih b. Fawzān al-Fawzān. Along with these reminders are explications of the hadiths “May he be humiliated, the man who sees Ramadan come and go and is not forgiven for his sins” and “[W]hen Ramadan begins…the Shayāṭīn (devils) are chained,” taken from the works of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajr al-‘Asqalānī, Imam al-Manāwī, Imam al-Nawawī, Imam al-Mubārakfurī, et al.

In the penultimate chapter, the reader finds a short—yet moving—exhortation from Shaykh al-ʿUthaymīn on remaining steadfast in worship after Ramadan. He states, “O Muslim brothers, do not think that when Ramadan concludes, the days of doing work are over. No, doing work does not end until death.”

This brief work gives the reader a glimpse at how the noble Messenger (Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam), his family, and his companions worshipped during Ramadan and how the month remained with them throughout the year. As Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī quotes from one of the Salaf, “They would supplicate to Allah for six months to allow them to reach Ramadan, then they would supplicate to Him for six months to accept [their worship].”

The Condition of the Salaf During Ramadan
Compiled and translated by Abū al-Ḥasan Mālik al-Akhḍar
26 pp. Al-Raḥmāniyyah Press